Allegiance France Service/branch Air Service | Name Marcel Haegelen Rank Colonel | |
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Born September 13, 1896
Belfort, France ( 1896-09-13 ) Buried at Cemetery of Ris-Orangis Awards Legion of Honour (Grand Officer), Medaille militaire, Croix de Guerre Died May 24, 1950, Val-de-Grace, Paris, France | ||
Colonel Marcel Émile Haegelen (13 September 1896 – 24 May 1950), Légion d'honneur, Médaille militaire, Croix de Guerre, was a World War I French flying ace credited with 22 victories.
Biography
He was born on 13 September 1896.
After the war, he became a test pilot for the Hanriot company. In 1931 and 1932 he won the Coupe Michelin long-distance flying competition flying the Lorraine Hanriot LH.41/2 aircraft. On the second one, he set a world record for 2000 km with a speed of 263.900 km/h.
Mobilised as fighter pilot at the beginning of World War II, lieutenant-colonel Marcel Haegelen won his 23rd victory flying a Curtiss H 75, shooting down a German airplane on 14 June 1940.
After the fall of France he became a member of the French Resistance, and was arrested by the Germans in 1943 and jailed in Bourges.
When he died on 24 May 1950, he was Grand officier of Légion d'honneur.